Heat Wave
by Seta Suzume
Summary: One hot morning at the mercenary fort Viktor and Flik need to cool down.


Heat Wave

Originally written for Springkink on lj

It was cooler in the evening. Cool enough that allowing Viktor to clamber into his bed hadn't seemed like such a bad idea. He didn't mind his companion's loud snoring the way he had in the past. Bit by bit, Viktor's idiosyncrasies, each and every one of them, were becoming familiar to him. What had once been annoying was now endearing- at least some of the time. Right now, Flik wasn't finding himself particularly appreciating the questionable charms of the bulky man sharing his bed.

It was hot. And not just your garden-variety summer heat. By the long beard of Crowley was it hot! Viktor's considerably hairy legs were tangled through his own, sticking to his skin and the sheets with sweat. Flik irritably kicked free and wiped his own damp brow with the back of his hand. As usual, Viktor was hogging the bed, spread out to his greatest length and breadth. And these sheets were smothering him! Flik flipped away the offending fabric and slowly slid out of the dip his body had made from its long and heavy sleep on this part of the mattress.

"Viktor," he jabbed the sleeping man in the ribs. "Viktor, I'm going to make some breakfast. You want some pancakes?"

Viktor rolled onto his side and groaned, but didn't open his eyes. "Do we have sausage?" he mumbled, although it actually sounded more like, "Do wes haf sowsoge?"

Anyone who hadn't lived with Viktor for several years wouldn't have understood his question, muffled as it was by a sweat-damp pillow and groggy with sleep, but Flik didn't hesitate. "I think so. ...Assuming you didn't get up sometime last night and have a midnight snack."

"Hey," he snorted, no matter how appealing a leisurely breakfast in bed sounded, he wasn't about to lie about in this heat and let Flik accuse him like that. "I'm not the only one at this fort, ya know! Pohl could've eaten those sausages!"

"So you're saying that _someone_ ate them, then?" Flik tied his bandanna around his forehead and sent a stern stare across the room.

Viktor kicked the sheets off his body. "I wouldn't know anything about that. I just woke up. Ask somebody else."

Flik opened up the chest and shoved his way through Viktor's unfolded (and possibly unwashed) clothes to his last clean shirt. He pulled it over his head, feeling the fabric absorb the sweat off his face.

Viktor stretched, but stayed perched on the edge of the bed, fanning himself with his hand. "Sheesh, this heat doesn't seem like it's going to die down anytime soon, does it?" The air-moving power of his hand just wasn't cutting it, so he looked around until he found something he could fold into a temporary fan. It was a curled, yellowing piece of folded paper that turned out to be a map. He figured folding it up differently wasn't going to hurt it any and set about creasing it into a proper fan.

The paper swished annoyingly in the air as he swung it rapidly back and forth. "If you're so hot, why don't you go dunk yourself with some water from the well?" Flik suggested irritably. He had been about to pull on his pants, but the uncomfortable heat, rising with the sun, was getting to him, so he tossed them aside over a chair. "It's too hot to get dressed." He took his shirt back off, but set it to the side a bit more carefully as he reigned his temper in.

"It won't bother you for the men to see you in your skivvies?" Viktor chuckled, continuing to swing the fan directly in front of his face, making the beads of sweat forming on his forehead roll backward in straight lines toward his hairline before they succumbed to the pull of gravity and moved downward.

"They've seen you plenty of times, haven't they? And I'd say I'm a better sight than you," he countered.

"Touche!" Viktor's mood wasn't as susceptible to the unfortunately muggy temperature. Flik was beginning to think that Viktor's ability to stay cheerful even in this heat was more annoying than the scorching summer weather. "But, hey, I'm up for a good, cold soaking before breakfast," he piped up, rising from the bed with a smile on his face. He left the fan behind on the unpleasantly mussed bed, leading the way out of the room, down the stairs, and into the yard. From the kitchen came the smell of slightly burned pancakes as well as a variety of noises from the men at work there- Pohl's jaunty whistling, someone dropping a pan (which rattled loudly as it hit the floor), and a yelp from Gengen as he nearly burned himself on the stove.

The sun was already blazing down on the grounds within the wooden walls of the fortress. The stockade itself provided a slight ring of shade around the outside of the building, while the well, on the other hand, was directly exposed to the bright light. "There are only two ways this morning could get worse," Flik declared, "For the place to get attacked while we're out here in our underwear, or for that water to be hot."

"Aww, it's too early for it to be hot yet," Viktor stayed optimistic, picking up the pace. He grabbed the wooden pail and tossed it down into the well. The expected splash came a bit later than the last few days. The possibility of a drought passed through Flik's mind, but at this point Viktor was only involved in managing to bring a little comfort back into his and Flik's lives. He hauled the bucket up. It swung back and forth on the rope, spraying pleasantly cool droplets across his muscular arms.

"How does it feel?" Flik asked patiently. He felt better outdoors where there was some movement of air, even if the sun was burning down on his exposed back.

"Find out for yourself!" Viktor surprised him, grabbing the bucket by its handle and flinging the water over his friend.

Flik had to fight back the initial urge to jump back from the surprise attack, but he was able to keep himself from making a more drastic move than leaning slightly away from the direct path of the water. "Ha ha ha ha!" Viktor laughed, his deep voice echoing off the water in the well. "Even though you wanted it, you couldn't help but flinch, could you?"

"You- you just surprised me. That's all," Flik shivered, enjoying the touch of the cold water after all the hot sweat that had bathed his body during the night. The dry grass crackled under his bare feet as he stepped up to the well and dipped the pail back down for another bucketful. "Now it's your turn, Viktor!" he flashed his handsome smile in full force. The brilliance of his happy face was enough to make young girls swoon in the street, and seeing in only served to deepen Viktor's pleasure at playing around outdoors.

Sure, it had been his idea to come out here, he mused as he yanked up the bucket with one sharp pull, but it had been Viktor who had worked to make it fun. For all the hardships he had gone through in his life, Viktor never stopped trying to be optimistic. That had to be one of the reasons Flik put up with his hair-brained schemes, heavy drinking, and snores that could wake the dead. He was just plain fun to be around.

"Think fast!" Flik yelled, promptly turning to splash Viktor right in the face with the bucketful of water.

"Too fast, too fast!" Viktor mock-protested, sliding a big hand over his forehead and slicking down his messy hair, shining and wet, as his voice choked up with laughter.


End file.
